


Friendsgiving

by FallLover



Series: Ere it Will Be Less [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Connor & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60 & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800/Chloe/Captain Allen - Freeform, F/M, Friendsgiving, Kissing, M/M, RK800-60's name is Cecil, RK900's name is nathan, Snuggling, Tina Chen/North - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:28:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21726022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallLover/pseuds/FallLover
Summary: Nathan and Gavin attend Friendsgiving at Hank and Connor's.
Relationships: CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800/Chloe, Hank Anderson/Connor, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Ere it Will Be Less [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565881
Kudos: 32





	Friendsgiving

“We are not friends anymore,” Gavin pouted as he leaned back against Nathan’s chest. The taller man was sitting on Hank and Connor’s large navy-blue couch chair so they could watch Tina beat Elijah for the fourth time at Smash on the big TV. It was dark outside and cold, so Hank had turned the fireplace on, and Connor had decorated the living with room with fake leaves, small pumpkins, and a stuffed animal turkey that Tina had named Sally.

“I’m sure it was just a joke, darling,” Nathan said, wrapping one arm around Gavin’s waist and pulling him a little more snugly against himself. Like this, he could almost forget that his mother was sitting across the room, alternating between petting Hank’s giant Saint Bernard, Sumo, and egging the competitors on.

“She said _lobster_ Mac and cheese to MY FACE!”

Tina snickered as she KO’d Elijah again. Elijah muttered darkly to himself.

“You don’t FUCK with Mac and Cheese, Nathan!” Gavin glared at Tina.

“Your Mac and Cheese is safe in the kitchen, Gav,” Tina said. “I’m sure North won’t let anything happen to it. She’s used to me fucking stuff up.”

North and Connor had kicked everyone out of the kitchen while they finished last minute preparations, which was why all the cooking rubes (and Gavin, whom Nathan had kidnapped because he’d “officially put in enough baking time and Nathan would like to cuddle with him now please”) were sitting in the living room chatting and taking turns on Smash.

(“It’s so they can gossip,” Tina stage whispered after pecking North on the cheek on her way out of the kitchen, earning a light poke with the handle of a spatula that made Tina giggle. Nathan hadn’t known about Connor and North’s close friendship, fostered through a local book club they both eventually left and decided to just hang out on their own.)

Hank sat awkwardly to Tina’s left, trying not to throw nervous glances towards Amanda, who was close by on her couch chair. The two had gotten along well enough. He’d gone with Connor to pick her up from the airport. She liked Sumo. She’d only said nice things to Hank himself. But Hank still worried that he wasn’t enough.

(“It’s the age thing,” Connor had confided in Nathan one day. “He thinks he’s too old for me and mother will disapprove. I’ve told him she doesn’t care, and even if she did, it doesn’t matter. It’s my decision.”)

Gavin had been nervous about meeting Amanda as well, until she’d seen how many dishes they’d brought over for the meal - mostly prepared by Gavin, who had decided that learning how to bake was how he’d deal with being terrified of the kitchen due to its connection to Chloe. He’d gone... a bit overboard as a result. And Amanda had walked up to him, taken his hands and said, “You’re perfect.”

(It helped that they bonded over cats. Amanda had a sweet munchkin she adored. She wanted to meet Gavin’s cats before going home, so he showed her pictures in the meanwhile.)

The whole event had started when Connor wanted to celebrate moving in with Hank. He’d transferred his lease to Nathan and Gavin when Gavin sold his share of the condo back to Chloe. It was a miserable affair, but Gavin seemed lighter afterward. Nathan had seen him acting like a trespasser in his own home. The nights where he could forget who still owned half the building were too few and far between. At least now, at Connor’s old place, they had some peace.

That the dinner coincided with the end of November was coincidence. Connor wanted to try Friendsgiving, even if he planned on inviting his mother and brothers, too. So he’d invited North, who would bring Tina. Hank invited Captain Bryant Allen, who he was apparently old friends with. Allen had transferred a while back, but still kept in touch.

(“Hank just wanted age solidarity,” Connor confided to North. “He doesn’t like that mother is the only person his age. Even though Allen is almost a decade younger.”)

(“Are you or aren’t you trying to convince this man that he shouldn’t feel like he’s too old for you?” North demanded as she poured out the gravy into gravy boats.)

Allen now sat on the floor in front of the couch, nursing a cup of hot apple cider, smiling as he watched the game. He was a tall, quiet man who’d politely introduced himself to Connor and the rest of the assembly. He knew Tina a bit and Gavin vaguely. He’d already played and lost to Tina twice.

Elijah had been a bit of an oddball out. Even three months out, he and Gavin were still navigating things with each other carefully. It was Gavin’s idea to invite Elijah for the event, since, “He’s gonna spend it alone. We usually invited him over to... to our place.”

“Do you want him to come?” Nathan asked, worried that Gavin was staring into space again.

“...I think he should. If Connor and Hank are okay with it.”

“They’re fine with whatever you’d like.”

So Elijah awkwardly showed up with a box of store bought sugar cookies and stood in the corner nursing a soda until Tina ordered him over to match with her. Apparently she wanted to make up for the holiday party from two years prior where Elijah had beaten her at Mario Kart. He loosened up a bit as he focused on the game, playing along with the banter Tina kept up, even laughing a bit.

Gavin tilted his head so it nested against Nathan’s cheek and neck. Nathan lightly squeezed Gavin’s chest, resulting in a playful wiggle. Nathan glanced up at one point and met Amanda’s eyes. She smiled happily at him, and he swallowed and looked away, smiling.

The doorbell rang. 

“That’s probably Cecil,” Nathan said.

Hank stood up and walked over to the door.

“So when was the last time you saw—?” Gavin started.

“What the fuck?” Hank said, loudly.

Everyone paused and looked to the entryway. There was some inaudible chatter.

Gavin stood up so Nathan could stand and walk to the door. Nathan wondered if Cecil had shown up half-naked again, or something similarly silly. Nathan spotted Cecil first. His brother hadn’t changed all that much, even though his hair was a bit curlier. He was in the middle of taking off his winter coat and frowning at Hank. Hank was glaring at the woman accompanying Cecil, who had pushed her coat hood back to reveal—

“Chloe?” A very, very quiet voice said from beside Nathan.

The woman looked in their direction and said, “You keep calling me that. Do you know my sister?”

“Your sister?” Nathan asked, very, very confused.

“Her name is Candace,” Cecil said, sharply. “She has two twin sisters, Chloe and Courtney.” Cecil glared at them all. “Would someone explain what’s going on?”

Amanda walked in and stepped past Nathan to hug Cecil.

“Hey, Mom,” Cecil said, hugging her back tightly.

“Good to see you, dear,” Amanda said. She pulled back and looked at Candace thoughtfully. “How about we go into the living room where it isn’t so drafty?”

So they all moved. Cecil and Candace were still closer to the door, with Cecil glaring daggers at his brothers – Connor had joined them – and sharp glances in Hank’s direction. Out of his coat, he wore a nice Fall-themed sweater and khakis. Candace wore a flower-print blouse and slacks, and had her arm through Cecil’s. Gavin stayed half behind Nathan, looking alternately between “Candace” and the floor. Elijah was still frozen in place in front of the couch, staring at the woman in shock.

“So how did you two meet?” Amanda asked, sitting once more and petting Sumo, as if they were discussing a new job.

Cecil sighed. “A book fair a while back. We hit it off and decided to travel together.”

Candace smiled shyly. “He was very funny. We got along great. I haven’t travelled with many people, really. I left my family to go to college overseas and never came back. I decided I wanted to travel afterward. And that’s what I’ve been doing.”

“We just spent two weeks in Paris,” Cecil said, smiling warmly at Candace.

“And you still haven’t visited your family since you got back?” Nathan asked, holding Gavin close.

“No,” Candace replied. “I thought about it but... Haven’t decided either way. I haven’t spoken with any of them in years.”

The situation with Chloe was loosely explained, with Candace putting a hand over her mouth and Elijah walking out of the room.

Hank walked up to Gavin and said, quietly, holding his cellphone in his hand, “Fowler checked. She’s still in prison, Gavin. Candace seems legit.”

Gavin swallowed and nodded. “Thank you.”

Nathan knew it wasn’t just the concern that Chloe had somehow gotten out, but the shock of seeing her face at all. Hearing her talk, Nathan could tell they sounded different. Candace seemed more… natural. Her smiles genuine. Her accent slightly different.

“I can go if—" she began.

“No,” Gavin said, looking at her. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault that—it’s not your fault.”

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

Nathan lightly squeezed Gavin’s arm.

Amanda stepped forward to give Candace a hug.

“I’m sorry you walked into all this. I’m truly glad you’re here. What did you study in school?”

They went back to waiting out Connor and North putting the finishing touches on the food. Cecil briefly popped into the kitchen to check it out before wandering the house. Gavin pulled Elijah aside for a while, and they talked quietly together, before Elijah went back to sit with Amanda and Sumo while Amanda started up a conversation with him about his work.

“Great first holiday here, huh?” Gavin commented quietly as he walked over and sat back in Nathan’s lap, leaning back against him as they sat by the couch and watched Tina and Candace start up a match.

Nathan smiled. “Well no one’s dead yet, so that’s good.”

“That’s happened to you?”

“Well I mean… it could...? But no, it hasn’t. Well there was one cancelled holiday party when we got word on a serial killer.”

Gavin swallowed.

“But you know… Yeah…”

“I asked,” Gavin offered.

“It was like three years ago. Anyway. This time last year, Perkins invited me to—” Nathan swallowed. “Yeah it’s not great.”

“You don’t have to talk about it.”

“I… Comparatively this is better. It wasn’t horrible. They _were_ overly invested in football for my liking, and the food wasn’t that great, but whatever good is in that memory is soured because of… well. At least now I’m with family and friends and the food smells good and no one is talking about football.”

“Heh. I promise I won’t bring it up, either.”

“My hero.”

Cecil plopped down beside them with a cup of hot chocolate. He grinned at them and said, “So hi, I’m Cecil. You’re Gavin, right? Nathan’s talked about you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he’s ridiculously in love I think.”

Gavin’s face warmed and Nathan sighed. “Cecil.”

“Well you are.” Cecil sipped some of his drink and said, “So yeah, you doing okay? I mean yeah, none of that stuff is Candace’s fault, but like… I could tell you were upset, so… Sorry.”

Gavin shrugged. “It’s… I’m working on it. Thanks for asking.”

“Cool. So how long have you known Hank?”

They finally gathered for the meal, with Sumo sitting by Hank’s chair obediently. 

The spread was great: Connor and North had set up a sort of buffet in the kitchen to give everyone more room at the table: hot biscuits, string beans, green bean casserole, broccoli, baked carrots, fried, baked, and roasted turkey, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Au Gratin, roasted potatoes, sweet peppers stuffed with baked mozzarella, baked yellow squash, and more turkey. The Mac and Cheese was safely un-lobstered or otherwise modified. Everyone came back from the buffet with heaped plates. Nathan set down a bowl of spicy pumpkin soup by Gavin’s plate and kissed him lightly on the brow.

Gavin smiled at him and said, quietly, “You don’t have to worry so much. You can spend time focusing on your family.”

“You _are_ family, and I love you, so I’ll worry as much as I like.” Nathan smiled at him as Gavin blushed. It wasn’t the first time he’d said those three words to Gavin. Nathan had first said it about two weeks after they started living together. And Gavin had said it back. Many times.

They were chatting and eating when Cecil set his drink down, looked squarely at Hank and demanded, “So what are your intentions towards my brother?”

Hank raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You’ve been dating for months, and now you’ve moved in together, and I found a ring in your bedroom—"

Hank flushed. “What??”

Connor stood up. “Cecil what the fuck?”

Cecil merely raised an eyebrow at Hank.

“It’s mine,” Nathan said, interceding, his face turning red. “It was a joke. I forgot about it. Cecil fell for it.”

All eyes swiveled to Nathan, who swallowed.

Cecil scoffed and said, “A likely story.”

“Why were you snooping around our bedroom?” Connor demanded.

“I had to know you weren’t dating an axe murderer.”

“We’ve been dating almost a year! I would have figured it out by now!”

Cecil scoffed and opened his mouth—

“That’s enough,” Amanda said, glaring at him. “Cecil, that was rude. Apologize to Hank and Connor.”

Cecil scoffed. “Sorry.”

Amanda sighed.

Hank stood up, dragging all eyes his way. He leaned down and asked, “Con, would you please come with me for a second?”

They walked out of the room, leaving things tense and silent.

“A prank?” Cecil said, looking over at Nathan. “Really Nathan?”

“Shut up, Cecil.”

Candace ate some more mashed potatoes and Gavin stared at his soup.

After what seemed an age, Connor and Hank re-emerged. They were now sort of crying and grinning wildly and flushed. Hank pulled out Connor’s chair for him and sat back down, scratching his neck awkwardly. Connor turned to North and showed her his hand and North _squealed._

“Fuck man! That’s awesome!”

Nathan smiled at Connor as he started talking about it. Hank looked at Amanda, nervous, but the Stern matriarch simply smiled.

“I’m glad you’re both happy.”

“Congrats, Connor!” Tina said, grinning at him.

They finished their meal in high spirits, and Nathan was so distracted by the idea of Connor getting married that he didn’t notice that Gavin had gone quiet again for most of the meal.

After the clean-up started, with North and Connor happily working away in the kitchen, only Tina allowed in for help, Nathan found himself in the living room with the rest of the group. Dessert had been set up on the coffee table, including a large variety of cookies, two cheesecakes, three pies, brownies, and a fruit tray. He spotted Cecil and Candace on either side of Allen, chatting gamely with him while they munched on brownies, both grinning while the older man blushed. Amanda was sitting by Hank, talking to him about her latest programming project as she held a plate piled high with cookies, with Elijah listening in while he worked through a slice of cheesecake. Nathan made his selections but couldn’t spot Gavin, so he went looking.

Nathan found Gavin sitting alone in the guest room in the dark, staring out a window at the falling snow. Nathan almost hadn’t spotted him, but for the light from the window.

“Hey,” Nathan asked, slowly walking up to him and turning the light on. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Gavin looked down and fussed with his hands.

Nathan set his plate down on the dresser and lightly brushed a hand through Gavin’s hair. The other man leaned into the touch. “I know that’s not true. You can tell me.”

“…You know at first I thought what you said was really stupid. Like why even do that? Pretend you planted a ring in your brother’s house for whatever fool reason. It’s still dumb, but you make some stupid decisions sometimes.”

Nathan smiled, unsure if this was a joke or a serious insult. It sounded sort of like both.

“But then I thought of course it’s a dumb prank, you’d never get a ring. Ever. And if you were you wouldn’t…” Gavin swallowed.

Nathan blinked, processing everything. “I wouldn’t what?”

“Forget it, it’s dumb.”

“…You thought I’d joke about proposing? To you?”

“No, not… Not quite.”

Nathan frowned. “I wouldn’t do that, though.”

“Okay.”

“Joke about proposing, I mean. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Okay.”

Nathan sighed and pulled Gavin up to hug him tightly. Gavin was a bit stiff at first, but shortly melted into him. “What’s bothering you, really?”

Gavin breathed deeply.

Nathan frowned, then pulled back. “You didn’t think I’d ever get a ring…You thought I was going to propose?”

“…No! You… No.”

Nathan smiled. “I’ll admit it would be interesting to propose on Friendsgiving, but I’d rather not confuse the dates. I want it to be a special day on its own.”

“Of course you—wait, what?”

Nathan smiled at Gavin as the man’s face flushed even darker. “You thought I wouldn’t propose to you? After everything? After moving in together and replacing the bed and the sheets and getting a third cat—”

“She was a stray and you know how people treat black cats—”

“And I love Dot, too, but still. We’re looking at places to move into, we’re… I mean I figured we could have the talk _after_ Friendsgiving.”

“Well I wasn’t the one who said they planted a ring in my brother’s boyfriend’s house because… what, you thought you were protecting Hank or something?”

“…I’ll admit it was silly.”

Gavin laughed. “It was _so_ dumb, I just… It was nice of you to do that, I guess, and Cecil really is a dick for pulling that, but still. I thought _I_ was the awkward one. You thought they wouldn’t figure it out?”

“I evaluated the situation and assumed it was the best course of action.”

“Of course you did.” Gavin swallowed and played with Nathan’s shirt. “So… _after_ Friendsgiving?”

“Tomorrow, if you want.”

Gavin swallowed again. “I don’t need anything fancy. I don’t… it doesn’t matter to me, really. It’s just… paperwork. It’s… It’s you wanting to stick around for my mess. With me.”

Nathan smiled. “As many times as I have to say it, I want to. Who else is going to listen to moody music and moon over actor butts during movies with me?”

“It definitely better be just me.”

Nathan laughed. “That’s why I love you, you silly man.”

Gavin huffed a laugh and reached his arms around Nathan’s middle to hug him tightly. “Yeah. I love you too, dumb and awkward as you are. Smartass. Idiot.”

Cecil poked his head in and said, “So Candace and I are going to convince Allen to elope with us. Just so you know where I probably disappeared to for the next month or so.”

“ _Cecil_.”

“Oh my god are you both getting married this is too much. Mom will _cry_. How are you going to feel making Mom cry, Nathan?”

“Cecil, _go away_.”

Cecil blew a raspberry at him and stepped out.

“…Why is he so weird?”

“I really do love him, he's great when he's great, but we ask that all the time, and none of us know. Cecil’s even brainstormed with us.”

Gavin snorted and kissed the corner of Nathan’s mouth. “You handled that well, babe.”

Nathan grinned. “Come back to the party with me? There’s cookies.”

“Oh, well why didn’t you say that before?” Gavin grinned back and they parted so Nathan could pick up his plate. They clasped hands again on their way out of the room, heading back to the living room.


End file.
